A terrific photographer & photography teacher who I admire, Chris Orwig, discusses, "embracing the flaws." That concept was likely brought to the surface for him when he was talking with the musician Seal about photography. Seal mentioned to Chris that, "When I shoot digitally I look for the flaws and when I shoot film I embrace the flaws." While I do not shoot film at the moment, the idea of "embracing the flaws" has not left me. Perhaps it's those imperfections that can, in the long run, make an image resonate.

A lens I frequently use for fly fishing photography--the Nikon ƒ2.8 14-24--is a flare machine. The two arcs on the left side of the above image appear in many images of mine when shooting into the sun with my 14-24 lens. Why not just embrace the marks the flare makes?